On Tuesday 24 June, EU fisheries ministers reviewed the implementation of fisheries control rules and the new CATCH electronic catch documentation system (see EUROPE 13654/3).
Costas Kadis, European Commissioner for Fisheries, pointed out that Regulation 2023/2842 on fisheries control will make the use of the CATCH system compulsory from 10 January 2026. The Commission has adopted an implementing regulation on derogations concerning margins of tolerance and, more recently, an initial list of ports benefiting from these derogations.
“We are working hard to finalise the first package of delegated and implementing acts in order to meet the deadline of 2026”, the Commission said.
However, several Member States have expressed their concerns. Belgium believes that it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to meet the deadlines for harmonisation as planned. For Spain, more realistic implementation deadlines are needed.
France, for its part, has requested the deletion of several provisions, in particular: the obligation to indicate the position, date and time of the start and end of fishing operations, line by line, and the obligation to specify the type of mesh used and zero catches in discard reports.
In addition, France felt that the obligation to de-ice and then re-ice fishery products at the time of weighing would be incompatible with supply chains and food safety. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)